SURKHET, OCTOBER 13

Headquarters of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has taken initiative to settle the dispute seen in Karnali Province.

Prime Minister and NCP Chairman KP Sharma Oli and party Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal have called the major NCP leaders of the province to Kathmandu for discussion.

“The party chairs have written to the major leaders of the party in the province to reach Kathmandu within two days,” a leader said.

According to him, Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, leader Yamlal Kandel, Minister of Financial Affairs and Planning Prakash Jwala and lawmaker Chandra Bahadur Shahi have been directed to reach Kathmandu within two days.

A leader said that preparations were under way to leave for Kathmandu by halting the province-level discussions.

The dispute in the ruling NCP had come to a head after 18 disgruntled provincial lawmakers registered a no-confidence motion against Karnali CM Mahendra Bahadur Shahi on Sunday.

It is learnt that the no-confidence motion was thwarted after lawmakers close to Madhav Kumar Nepal withdrew support for the motion.

Party co-chairs today called leaders to resolve the dispute in the province.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shahi appointed lawmaker Kurmaraj Shahi as parliamentary party whip with support from lawmakers of the Nepal camp.

Earlier, CM Shahi had sacked chief whip Gulab Jung Shah from his post and appointed Sita Nepali in his place. A meeting was called to discuss the no-confidence motion at 1:00pm today.

The meet, however, was affected after lawmakers loyal to Madhav Nepal stayed away. The ruling NCP has 33 lawmakers in the Provincial Assembly of 40 members. Of them, 12 lawmakers are close to Oli, 13 are loyal to Pushpa Kamal Dahl and eight to Madhav Nepal.

A version of this article appears in print on October 14, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.